Word: fm
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...FM: Why constitutional law? CRS: After law school, I worked for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice, which focused on constitutional questions. I also clerked for Thurgood Marshall and Benjamin Kaplan. Originally, constitutional law was the glamor field of law teaching. I thought that it would be really great if I had a chance to get involved in an area that helped define the nation’s understanding of itself and possibly make a contribution. [...] It was endlessly exciting and an area in which if you figure something out you could help the system...
...FM: What was clerking for Thurgood Marshall like? CRS: It was an adventure. There was frequent drama because there were cases involving abortion, voting rights, the meaning of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and more. Marshall himself was larger than life—not self-important. He was full of amazing stories about presidents and civil rights leaders and great figures in American history—many of whom he actually knew, such as the Kennedys, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon. Marshall was one of the world’s best storytellers and I would say that every...
...FM: If you could ask the Founding Fathers anything about the Constitution, what would you ask? CRS: I’d ask them if they wanted their original understanding of their phrases should bind posterity—if they think their original interpretation should bind people 100 and 200 years later. That is one of the great questions of constitutional law and it would be very fascinating to have a discussion with founders about that question...
...FM: What is the most pressing legal issue facing the U.S. today? CRS: One very pressing constitutional question is the authority of the president to act on his own. Under what circumstances can the president act unilaterally? We don’t know the answer to this. In terms of individual rights there are two obviously pressing questions—the question of discrimination on the basis of disability on the constitutional side and in the interpretation of Americans with Disabilities Act, and the question of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In terms of the horizon, the rights...
...FM: You wrote a book about aggregating information entitled “Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge.” What are your thoughts on wikis? CRS: I think wikis are a promising device by which to pool diverse information, so I am upbeat on wikis. I have worked some with the CIA on how to aggregate disparate information there. On the other hand, it is true that there are vandals and malcontents who can defeat the project, so we are still learning about the domains in which open wikis work and the ways in which you need active...